Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain said Sunday that Phelps is being cared for in a Shawnee County facility. Drain wouldn't identify the facility but says Phelps is 84 and "having some health problems."

His son, Nate Phelps, who left the church 37 years ago, told the Topeka-Capital Journal that he received information from other family members that his father is in hospice and is near death. Drain told the paper that the use of the phrase "near death" is not well-informed.

Members of the Westboro church, based in Topeka, frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages like "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Thank God for 9/11," claiming the deaths are God's punishment for American immorality and tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.

Nate Phelps told the paper that his father had been excommunicated from the church last year and that his health has spiraled downward ever since. Drain said he would not comment about internal church dealings.

After word of Phelps health status broke, Equality Kansas urged the public to show the type of respect the Phelps family often denies others and refrain from protests and demonstrations.

"We ask that everyone understand the solemnity of the occasion, and honor the right of his family and friends to remember and mourn his loss in private without interruption or unseemly celebration," said Equality Kansas chairwoman Sandra Meade.

"This is our moment as a community to rise above the sorrow, anger, and strife he sowed, and to show the world we are caring and compassionate people who respect the privacy and dignity of all," said executive director Thomas Witt.

Westboro Baptist Church responded to the claim that Phelps is near death, saying, "The idea that someone would suggest that he is near death is not only highly speculative, but foolish."

Religious experts said they were not sure what will happen when Phelps passes.

"I would expect that if there isn't somebody to step in and take up the mantle, who has what Max Weber called, 'charisma,' the group would not have much longevity," said Gary Ebersole, religious studies director at the University of Missouri Kansas City.

Ebersole said Phelps' charisma is what brought people to the group when it began.

Westboro Baptist Church released a statement Sunday saying Phelps was not the group's leader because they choose not to have one.